


Free Bird

by Tenebrais



Category: Sleepless Domain (Webcomic)
Genre: Isekai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:54:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27534079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tenebrais/pseuds/Tenebrais
Summary: Cassidy disappeared from the world, and woke up in another.Stranded in the desert, with nothing but empty wasteland for miles around her, she is rescued by a band in their beaten-up tour bus.But to call them mere musicians would be an insult...
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	1. Livin' On The Edge

Cassidy woke up on a bed of cold sand.

The first thing she noticed was that she had slept in her gym clothes. Gross, they were even still sweaty.  
The second thing she noticed was that she wasn't in her bed. Or in her room. Or even in her house.  
The third thing she noticed was that she had no idea where she was.

Sandy wasteland stretched far into the distance, like the largest construction site she'd ever seen. Tufts of parched grass poked out of the landscape where they dared. On the horizon, colossal rocks burst from the ground, with the rising sun peering over them.  
Cassidy only barely knew what a horizon _was_.

What was going on? She tried to remember how she might have got here. Last night, she'd tried to confront Undine about the whole HP situation, but that went badly... she wandered around for a bit, and decided not to meet up with her team for patrol... then there were those cat monsters, and the weird shadowy girl, and...

Cassidy swallowed. Both of her copies had been killed, together. Neither one snapped back.  
And now, wherever this was, she wasn't in the city.  
Was she dead?

She lay in the sand, contemplating. If she was dead, why was she in sweaty gym clothes? Wasn't everyone supposed to meet the Founder in golden robes, escorted by legendary magical girls, or... something? She barely remembered religious studies. If this was the afterlife, she wanted her money back.

She sat up, and her back was sore. She rubbed her hand along it and felt the familiar pattern of acne. Yeah, you definitely weren't supposed to have body pains and blemishes when you were dead. She was pretty sure that was part of the deal. She was the actual, physical Cassidy. Just... not in the City any more. In some other world.

She looked around. What now, then? Wherever she was, she had no food, and no drink, and couldn't see a store or even a drinking fountain anywhere. There was some sort of trail some distance away – she could only hope it was a path she could follow. Alright, that would be her target. Follow that trail in the hopes it would take her somewhere.  
Anticipating a long day, she transformed.

She... tried to transform. Nothing happened.

In a panic, she brushed her hair in front of her face. Still bright orange. She breathed a slight sigh of relief – she was still a magical girl. But she couldn't transform. Was she just out of power?  
“I'll figure it out later,” she said to herself, and started to trek.

* * * * *

By the time the sun was high in the sky, Cassidy had already walked more than she had ever walked in her life. Her legs were ready to give out beneath her, but the fact the scenery hadn't changed at all in all that time frustrated her too much to stop. She'd been walking for hours! She had to have got _somewhere_! She wished she'd marked the place she woke up, just so she could see how far away it was and be sure she was actually moving at all.  
She was tired. She was thirsty. She still couldn't transform. She'd thought her gym clothes were sweaty before; now it was getting hot out here. Trying to waft some air under her shirt just made it feel stickier.  
She was on the verge of tears. It all just felt cruel, and pointless. If she had to die in the real world, why send her here just so she could die again? Who was responsible for this? Once it's all over does she get to complain?

Her throat was dry. Her legs felt like jelly. She couldn't keep going. She stumbled forward a few more paces, but finally gave in to gravity. She had to rest. Maybe, if she was lucky, she'd wake up again later and could keep moving. Or if she was unlucky.  
She looked back at how far she'd travelled. Something was kicking up dust on the trail back the way she came, and she could start to hear a dull growl from the same direction.

Some sort of beast was coming for her.

In a last-ditch attempt to defend herself, she tried to transform one more time, but it just wasn't happening, no matter how much she strained. Defeated, she collapsed to the ground. Perhaps it was better to let it end quickly. Maybe she'd get another go somewhere better. She closed her eyes.

The growling beast approached, and she heard it slow to a stop just in front of her, probably investigating this carrion it had found. It made a metallic squeaking noise.

“Hey! Are you okay there?” a woman called.  
Confused, Cassidy lifted her head and peered over. There really was a woman there, standing next to some sort of vehicle. It looked sort of like a tram, if you made it out of rusted steel and smoke. Was that the beast?  
“Wh...?” Cassidy tried to say something, but her throat was parched, and she could barely move.  
“Holy shit,” the woman muttered. “She's alive! Heather, get some water!” She came running over and crouched down by Cassidy.  
“Hey, it's alright now,” she said. “We got you. Can you stand?”  
Cassidy tried to sit up, but she couldn't. She tried to say something, but could only croak hoarsely. She settled for shaking her head.  
“Are you hurt?”  
She shook her head again.  
“Just the desert got to you, huh? Don't even have a pack...” the woman looked around, as if to be sure she wasn't missing anything.  
Another woman had come out of the vehicle, carrying a pouch with a stopper in it. She gave it to the woman crouched by her.”  
“Thanks,” the first woman said to the second. She uncorked the pouch and held the opening to Cassidy's lips. “Here, drink up.”

Cassidy drank. Water had never tasted so sweet. She could feel life coming back to her. Soon she was able to hold the waterskin herself. She propped herself up on her elbows, still not letting the water part from her lips.  
“ _Do_ you have a pack?” the woman asked. “Hard to imagine you made it out here without any equipment.”  
“No,” Cassidy croaked as she stopped to breathe.  
“That's insane, you know that, right? We'd better get you on the bus, no way you're gonna survive out here by yourself. Heather, go soak a rag in water, she might have heat stroke.”  
As the other woman went back to the vehicle – the “bus” - the first one grabbed Cassidy's back and legs and picked her up. In a fatigued haze, Cassidy briefly admired her strength, before she passed out.

* * * * *

Cassidy woke up on a gently-vibrating bed of tough fabric.  
She had a pounding headache, mitigated a little by the damp cloth on her forehead. She was, she assumed, on board the “bus”. They had laid her on one of two bunk beds at the back. Further up was an open space with a small table and some folded chairs stacked against the wall, with cupboards and a sink to the side. Against the other wall was an array of musical instruments. Up front were some seats, where the two women were sat, and at the very front a man was holding on to some sort of wheel.

One of the women, the water carrier from before, noticed her stirring. “Ah, the sleeper wakes,” she said.  
The other turned to look, then got up and climbed her way toward the beds.  
“How are you feeling?” she asked.  
“Better,” Cassidy said. “Thanks.”  
There's more water here if you need it,” she said, handing her a cup as she sat up. “I guess since you're with us now introductions are in order. I'm Kari. The other girl there is Heather, and the guy driving is Keith. Welcome to our tour bus!”  
“Tour... bus?” Cassidy said.  
“Yep! We're a touring band.”  
Cassidy didn't know what touring meant, but tried not to show it. Kari was a tough-looking woman, despite her friendly demeanour, with an undercut and a sleeveless denim jacket that showed off her powerful arms. She reminded her of Lettie, in a way, if Lettie was older and more weather-beaten. She'd been trying not to think of the people back home, but having someone like her old leader around made her feel like she needed to try harder to fit in.  
“What about you, kid?” Kari said.  
“I'm Cassidy.”  
“What do you play?”  
“Huh?” Cassidy was thrown by the question. “I don't really do sports.”  
Kari laughed. “No, I mean, what instrument?”  
“Oh, I'm not a musician either.”  
“You're shitting me? You're out here in the middle of the wasteland, no food, no gear, no instrument, and you couldn't even play one if you had one? How in the...”  
“Think she was abandoned?” Heather suggested from the front of the bus. Heather was a big contrast to Kari – her long hair would probably be straight if she brushed it; she had thick round glasses, floaty skirts and a lot of beads.  
“Abandoned? Nah, no one would fuckin'... would they...?” Kari looked unsure of herself, then looked at Cassidy. “Oh, shit. You poor girl... Look, I'm sure things are tough for you right now, but you're safe with us, okay? We'll look after you, 'til we can get you somewhere safe, alright?”  
“You don't have to treat me like a child,” Cassidy snapped. She grabbed a tuft of her hair. “You see this? You know what this means, right?”  
“That... you're a redhead?” Kari said.  
“It means I'm a magical girl! I'm not just a helpless kid, I can take care of myself!”  
“A magical girl?” Kari quickly suppressed a laugh. “What's that?”  
“Just watch!”  
Cassidy stood up, reached out her arm in her customary pose, and transformed.

Nothing happened.

“Come _on_!” Cassidy barked in frustration. “Why doesn't it work?”  
She tried again, but it just wasn't coming. She'd slept at least a few hours on the bus, normally that would give her what she needed to at least manage a transformation, but it just wasn't happening. With a huff, she sat back down.  
Kari put a hand on her shoulder. “It's alright, Cassidy. You can be a magical girl or whatever if you want.”  
“Magical girl,” Heather mused. “I like that.”  
“So where d'you come from?” Kari asked.  
“The north-west,” Cassidy responded automatically.  
“North-west? Of where?”  
“Uh... the city?”  
“Which city?”  
“There are _other cities_?” Cassidy had never considered the thought. The City was just... where the people were. Why would anyone be anywhere else? Even if things worked differently in whatever other world she was in, where people could cross huge empty building sites in trams without rails, it didn't make sense to her that there might be more than one city. How would you protect them all?  
Kari sighed. “Whoever left you there really did a number on you, didn't they?”  
“No one left me there!” Cassidy pouted. “I just... woke up there.”  
“Woke up? After what?”  
“I was in a fight, and... it... went badly. I think I... died. And then I woke up, and I started walking, and then...”  
“Then we found you,” Kari finished.  
“A messenger from another world!” Heather gasped, scurrying closer.  
“Don't crowd the girl, Heather, she's been through a lot. You must be pretty hungry by now, eh? We'll have dinner before dusk, but maybe you should have some biscuits or somethin' now.”

Kari started rummaging in the cupboards around the sink. Heather came and sat by Cassidy in her place.  
“Don't mind Kari,” she said. “Her heart is warm, but her mind is closed.”  
“Piss off, Heather,” Kari called from across the bus.  
Cassidy couldn't help but laugh a little.  
“I believe you,” Heather continued. “And I would love to hear more about your home when you are ready to talk about it.”  
“Uh... thanks?” Cassidy said. She didn't really care if they believed where she came from – she didn't even really understand it herself – and the two women's kindness was making her wary. And the man with the wheel hadn't said anything at all. She never liked quiet people.  
She still had a headache, and just wanted to be left alone, but her stomach was complaining too. The last time she ate must have been dinner, before going to club. That was nearly a day ago. She was _starving_.  
Kari came back carrying a beaten-up tin. Inside were some sort of hard cakes that Cassidy didn't recognise. She took one and bit down on it. Whatever this thing Kari called a biscuit was, it certainly hadn't been made with flavour in mind. It might have contained a little bit of sugar, she imagined. It was dry, and tough to chew. But, importantly, it was _food_ , and her stomach wouldn't let her turn it down. She gobbled it down quickly, and took another.  
“We'll let you rest for a bit,” Kari announced, and pulled Heather back to the front of the bus.

Her belly full, Cassidy lay back on the bed. She was, at least, starting to feel alive again. Her headache was fading, and she could start really thinking about the situation she found herself in.  
She was still waiting for these people to tell her what they wanted out of her. It wasn't that she didn't need their help – she would definitely be dead by now if they hadn't arrived when they did – but she didn't trust them to have helped her for nothing.  
This whole world was bizarre. It was so huge, but so empty. She must have passed through several times the size of the City, but there was just nothing in it save for these three people and their bus. She'd paid attention enough to figure out there must be other people somewhere – several cities! - but she had no idea where. Or where she was going for that matter.  
She sat up, and looked out of the window. Parched grasses passed by, with the occasional dessicated tree. She looked down near where the bus met the ground, and regretted it – this nearby, she could see just how inconceivably fast they were going. The gentle rumble of movement had masked the bus' incredible speed. The realisation that they must be hurtling through the terrain at _at least_ forty kilometres an hour made her start to feel nauseous. She backed away from the window and gagged.

“Are you travel sick?” Heather asked, looking back at her. “You can open the window there if you need to. The latch is on the bottom.”  
Cassidy fumbled at the window and managed to push it open – which proved to be a mistake. Feeling the rush of wind and seeing the ground tearing by directly below her did nothing to make her feel better. Before she could cough up the only food she'd eaten all day, she slammed the window shut again and turned to face back into the bus.  
“Um... where is the toilet?” Cassidy asked, hesitantly.  
Kari shrugged. “We ask Keith to stop and go round the back of the bus. D'you need to go?”  
Gross. “Uh. No. I'll be fine, thanks,” Cassidy said.  
“Suit yourself,” Kari said back. “We'll be stopping for the night anyway in an hour or so. Was hoping we'd make it to the river before sunset, but it doesn't look like we will. Shame, we could all do with a bath.”  
Cassidy couldn't help but feel attacked. It wasn't her fault she was still in these gym clothes! At least they'd dried out now, though they felt horrible. She tried not to think too hard about the fact that they needed the river to have a bath. Or what she was going to wear if she was washing her outfit.

Cassidy sat back as the women up front started talking about some music stuff. She didn't understand most of it, but it came across as weirdly tactical. It didn't sound like the sort of thing she'd always imagined Team Forte talking about.  
Huh. Team Forte. They would be back in the city somewhere, she guessed. She was probably going to miss their music. And there was her team back there, too – she just ditched them that night, then disappeared like this. They ditched her first! She was right there and they didn't even ask if she was okay! But still... she never got to say goodbye.  
And then there was the club. And all of... that stuff.  
Was she ever going to see HP again? Or Vedika, or Bud or Harley?  
Guess Undine got what she wanted, she thought bitterly.  
With tears in her eyes, she curled up on the bunk.

* * * * *

As the sun touched the horizon, the bus finally slowed to a stop.  
“All ashore, then!” Kari called. “Could do with a chance to stretch my legs.”  
Cassidy's legs were still recovering from all the walking in the morning, and they popped loudly as she stood up. On the other end of the bus, Keith was finally leaving his seat with the wheel. He was a large man, tall but plump, with rosy cheeks and a thick, fluffy beard. Cassidy still didn't know what to make of him, but at least she knew what he looked like now.

It was a relief to feel solid ground under her feet again as she stepped off the bus. Ground that wasn't going anywhere. Beyond that, though, this spot really didn't look any different from where they had picked her up. Going at all that speed, for all that time, and they hadn't really got anywhere. How big was this wasteland?

“So,” Heather said. “Dinner first, or wards?”  
“Wards,” said Keith. His voice was a lot softer than Cassidy had imagined.  
“You're too cautious, Keith,” Heather teased.  
“He's right, though,” Kari said. “Better keep the beasts away before we start smelling of food.”  
“Beasts?” Cassidy perked up. “I can help fight monsters!”  
“I'm sure you can,” Kari said, in that way that did not at all convey that she was. “Better to not get into a fight at all, though."  
“Just wait here, okay?” Heather said as she went back aboard the bus. The other two followed – Cassidy was about to go back with them when they came out again, this time carrying their instruments. Heather placed an amp on the ground, and she and Kari plugged their guitars into it. Keith was wearing some sort of harness with an array of drums strapped around him.  
Heather turned to Cassidy. “Now listen to this, magical girl,” she said.

Heather was the first to play, strumming out a riff of deep bass notes. Keith joined in with a slow, steady drum beat. Once they'd established a rhythm, Kari struck up a tune on her guitar. It wasn't the most exciting rock music Cassidy had ever heard, but it wasn't the sound that stuck out to her. It was the _feel_. Every note rang palpably through her body, bringing a buzz that felt both alien, and strangely familiar. It was a feeling she'd felt before, most nights in fact, when the inner barrier flooded the city.  
This wasn't music. This was _magic_.

When they finished their performance a minute later, Cassidy was stunned.  
“That was magic!” she blurted out. “You did magic! You're adults and you did magic!”  
“It was music,” Keith said.  
“They're kind of the same thing,” said Kari.  
“Do you not have music where you're from?” Heather asked.  
“Well, yeah, we have music, but it doesn't do... that! It's just, like, noise?”  
“So what is it for, if it's just noise?” Heather said.  
“Well, it's nice to listen to?” Cassidy said.  
“Is that not magic in itself?” Heather asked.  
Cassidy didn't have an answer to that.

Soon after, the band dug a pit for a fire and Heather started to cook their dinner. Any other day, Cassidy would have called the food terrible – it was just slices of toast with canned beans on top! But the beans had flavour – way better than the weird biscuits she'd had earlier – and there was a peaceful vibe to the whole meal. It might have been a lingering effect from the musical spell, but Cassidy felt safe, in a way that she hadn't really felt for years. Not since becoming a magical girl. Whatever their ward spell was, it was going to keep any monsters away tonight. No need for a barrier. No need for girls fighting.  
There was still a quiet anxiety in the back of her mind. What did these people want with her? Were they really just looking out for this stranger they'd picked up? Kari, at least, definitely saw her as just a child, which rankled too. Maybe she should find a way to help them out. They'd definitely respect her if she could manage to transform properly. She'd have to try again tomorrow, once she'd got a good night's sleep.

She'd definitely be able to do it then.


	2. Let There Be Rock

Cassidy woke up on her bunk in the bus.  
The band had decided unanimously that, as a kid, Cassidy should get the top bunk. Her desire to not let them treat her like a child wrestled with her desire to sleep on the top bunk, and the high perch won out. It also helped her have a slight semblance of privacy – with no partitions or curtains, there wasn't really any way to get out of everyone's sight to get changed or anything. Not that she had any other clothes to change into. Sleeping in her gym clothes wasn't fun; she felt horribly grimy by this point and couldn't wait until she could next take a shower.

The sun was peeking over the distant, jagged skyline, bathing the bus in gold. Cassidy couldn't remember ever seeing the sun rise before – it was beautiful, even if it wasn't the same sun she's always woken up to.  
There was a bustle around her as the band members started getting out of bed. Heather was in the bunk below, and when she got up she turned to face her.  
“The sunrise is beautiful, isn't it?” she said. “It is nature's blessing in the morning.”  
“It's pretty, I guess,” Cassidy said. She wasn't sure how seriously she was supposed to take her.  
“Did you sleep well? You can stay in bed longer if you like. There will be porridge for you when you're ready.”

Cassidy sat up, but didn't leave the bed. There wasn't really anywhere to go. Across the bus she watched Keith prepare breakfast – oats, powdered milk and water in a pot, boiled on a little stove by the sink. She stuck her tongue out. Were these people really living on such flavourless gruel? She remembered the biscuits yesterday, and the beans on toast for dinner, and wept for the world she had landed in. Goodbye, flavour. If only I had appreciated you more I still had you.  
Once she was done being sarcastic to herself, she decided to join the others for breakfast.

“Morning, kid,” Kari greeted as she unfolded a chair and sat at the table. “Saved you some porridge. Got some sugar for it too, if you want.”  
“Oh, yeah!” Cassidy said. “Please!”  
Kari scraped out the porridge pot into a bowl, and pulled from a cupboard a tin filled with glistening brown sugar, presenting her with both. Cassidy eyed the sugar hungrily, and mixed a generous spoonful into her bowl.  
Okay, that was much better. Maybe it wasn't so bad here.

“Did I ever tell you where we were headed?” Kari asked, once Cassidy was done eating.  
“No,” Cassidy said.  
“Place called Thornhill. Little town by the river. Once we're on the road we'll hit the river itself in an hour or two – we'll stop there, fill the water tank, have a wash, probably spend the rest of the morning there 'til the laundry's dry. Then we follow the river upstream to town.”  
“And what are we doing there?”  
“We're a band. We'll play music.”  
“And do more magic?” Cassidy asked, with a gleam in her eyes.  
“Yeah, we'll ward against monsters, bless the crops and health, that sort of thing. We've got our usual set list, and we take requests if we know 'em. Little out-of-the-way places like this don't get a lot of musicians come by, so we usually get a pretty warm welcome. That's the hope, anyway. And hopefully we'll find a place for you to go too.”  
Cassidy said nothing.  
“Don't get me wrong,” Kari said, “we're not looking to get rid of you or anything. But this is no life for a kid.”  
Cassidy pouted and crossed her arms. “I'm not a kid! I can handle it.”  
“I'm sure you can, but you'll be much better off with a stable home and a family to look after you.”  
“And I'm not gonna get a say in it, am I?”  
“We're not going to leave you somewhere you aren't happy! I just want the best for you.”  
Cassidy sulked. No one who “just wanted the best” for her could ever be reasoned with. She folded away her chair and took a seat by the window.

Keith started the bus and they got moving. While Kari washed out the breakfast stuff, Heather came and sat next to Cassidy.  
“What Kari failed to say is that you are welcome to stay with us if this is where you belong,” she said. “Not all who wander are lost.”  
“Thanks,” Cassidy said. “Not sure she sees it that way though.”  
“Kari... tends to think in straight lines. But she isn't stubborn. She will listen to what you want, once you know what that is.”  
“I just don't want to be treated like a kid,” she said, looking out of the window. “They understood that back home.”  
“Your home sounds very interesting. Would you like to tell me about it?”  
Cassidy looked at her. Heather's eyes were sparkling. She really was interested.  
“So, we called it the City,” she began. “And all around it is the Great Barrier, that keeps the monsters out. But for four hours every night...”  
Cassidy explained everything. About the Inner Barrier, the monsters, the magical girls. She told her about her family, about school, about Heartful Punch and Team Flash. And she told her about Undine and the shadow girl that had nearly killed her.  
Part-way through her telling Kari had come and joined them, listening in, but Cassidy ignored her. 

“So through all this, no one knows why you get these powers?” Heather asked.  
“Well, there's this whole religion about the founder of the city who thinks they choose us. But other than that, no one knows, no. We get them in a dream but it doesn't really explain anything.”  
“Ah!” Heather exclaimed. “You were chosen by the great ones!”  
“The... great ones?”  
“They sang the world into being at the beginning of time. The Founder your people worship must be one of them!”  
“Uh... no, I don't think the Founder is actually real or anything.”  
“Maybe not literally, no, but it must all have begun somewhere. You have given me much to think about, Cassidy,” Heather smiled.  
Kari sighed. “Heather thinks every religion is basically true. She goes down some real rabbit holes sometimes.”

Cassidy looked back out the window, and was surprised to see the scenery had finally changed. She wasn't sure how long she had been talking for, but out here the sparse grasses were more green than grey, and huddles of trees marked a line across the landscape.  
“Ah, looks like we're nearing the river!” Kari said.  
“Where is it?” Cassidy asked.  
“Just past those trees. They're fed by the water.”  
Cassidy peered between the tree line, but all she could see was a stream of water. Or... was that what 'river' actually meant? She'd always thought it was the whole structure, with storm drains and bridges and stuff. So this was a natural river? She tried to pretend she knew this all along.

The bus pulled up close to the river's edge, and came to a stop. Cassidy stepped out onto the sand, and took in the view. The water in the river was clear and pristine. Vibrant green trees of types she had never seen before lined its banks, surrounded by soft, verdant grass. The chalky sand around it felt so much more welcoming than it did in the wastes.  
She soon became aware that they were missing someone.  
“Where did Keith go?” she asked.  
“Oh, Keith's real shy,” Kari said. “So he usually bathes a good way from us. Best not disturb him, yeah? On the other hand, some people have no shame at all...” she looked over at Heather, who had already stripped naked and was wading out into the river.  
Cassidy cringed and blushed. She had been looking forward to getting clean, but... not in public like this! Or at least not around these people she barely knew. She stood paralysed as Kari stripped down to her underwear.  
“I'm... gonna...” Cassidy stammered, while pointing downriver.  
Kari gave her a sympathetic nod. “Alright, but don't go too far, yeah? We don't know what's out here. Shout if you run into trouble, we'll come running.”

Sighing in relief, Cassidy hurried far enough down the river to be out of the women's sight. But before worrying about bathing, she wanted to try transforming again. She was well-fed and well-rested now, with no distractions around. If it was ever going to happen, it would be now.

...It wasn't now. Again nothing happened. Frustrated, she tried to see her reflection in the river – she couldn't see much in the running water, but there was distinctly orange in the blur. Her powers couldn't just be _gone_ if she was still orange. She just... couldn't call them, somehow.

Sighing, she took off her shoes and socks and dipped a toe into the river. The water was icy cold. She had never taken a cold bath before, and the idea didn't appeal much.  
But she itched all over, and it was getting hard to ignore the smell. The sun was still as hot here as out in the wasteland, and being stuck in the bus for most of the last day did nothing to help with the heat. Her gym clothes were _bad_ , and if they weren't the only clothes she had she would happily burn them to ashes at this point to be free of their curse.  
With one last look back toward the bus to make absolutely sure she was out of sight, she shucked her shirt and shorts and waded slowly into the stream. The water was freezing, but the sunlight was hot, and she found herself getting used to it very quickly. Soft aquatic plants in the bed of the river brushed against her feet as the clear water washed away the grime of her last few days' misadventures. Buoyed by the gentle current, Cassidy finally felt truly relaxed.

Looking at her clothes on the shore, her thoughts wandered back to the City. She wondered what everyone back home would be doing right now. Would her disappearance finally prove to them all how dangerous Undine was? No, probably not – they all took her side. And then there was her team, who didn't even care that she wasn't there. Well, she showed them, she guessed. She wished she'd been around to see their faces when she didn't come to school, but... that was kind of the point.  
She wasn't going to miss any of them. She'd be way better off without them.

She thought about the band up the river. What were their lives like? Drifting from place to place, playing songs – doing magic! – to all these groups of people that were out in the middle of nowhere for some reason. She wondered what all these places might be like. How do they live their lives? How do they manage out there without barriers? She was kind of excited to get to Thornhill and see. And maybe all the other places would be different to that. The whole concept of travel was new to her – they'd been going for _days_ just to get to this one place. Until now she'd never even thought about just how big a world really is. And she could just... go there. Anywhere!  
Not all who wander are lost, Heather had said. She liked the sound of it.  
She still had to deal with Kari wanting to palm her off to whoever. But Heather seemed to be on her side. And no matter what they say, she had the right to decide what happens to her!

Cassidy took a deep breath, and plunged her head under the water, shaking out her hair to give it a good rinse. She surfaced again, and smiled to herself. This was _her_ future, and she would live it on her own terms.

* * * * *

Cassidy was staring at her clothes on the shore, wondering what she was going to do about cleaning them, when Heather found her – thankfully now dressed.  
“There you are!” she called. “I've brought you a spare dress! And a towel. Do you want us to wash your clothes? We're doing the laundry.”  
“Oh – yeah! Thanks!” Cassidy called back.

Cassidy waited until she was certain Heather was out of sight before climbing ashore. The towel was coarse and threadbare, and the dress was way too big for her, threatening to trip her up with every step. But it was clean, dry, and soft. She felt too positive to be bitter about it – she couldn't help but laugh at her own awkward stumbling as she returned to the bus through the sun-dappled copse.

“Hey, look who's back!” Kari greeted. “All clean now?”  
“Uh... yeah, thanks,” Cassidy said. “Hey, can I... join in with you? When you perform in the town, I mean.”  
“Well now, where's this come from?” Kari said. “I thought you said you couldn't play anything?”  
“I can't, but... I can sing pretty well? I used to-”  
“Whoa, whoa whoa!” Kari cut her off. “ _No singing_. We do _not_ need that kind of trouble. I don't care how good you are.”  
Confused, Cassidy said nothing.  
“Look,” Kari said, “I'm glad you want to be part of things, but you don't need to put yourself at risk like that, okay? If you wanna help out, why don't you go give Keith a hand hanging up the laundry?” She gestured over toward the bus, where Keith had planted a pole in the ground nearby and was tying a line between the two.  
Cassidy sighed. “Fine...” she muttered.

Keith gave her a smile as she came to help out, but didn't say anything. He was surprisingly easy to work with, picking up on things she needed without her ever having to ask. The band's wardrobe didn't seem to be very big – which made sense, considering how little room there was to keep stuff on the bus – so they got finished quickly.  
He gave her a thumbs-up, then gestured to her to wait as he boarded the bus.

Cassidy stood there for a moment. What could he want? Why was she supposed to wait? She noticed now that the others were gone too – also on board the bus, by the sound of the voices in it. Suddenly wary, and feeling a little exposed, she peeked in through the bus's door.

Kari and Keith were having some sort of argument.  
“No, I'm not saying you can't do it, I know it's yours, it's just that-” Kari said.  
Keith cocked an eyebrow quizzically.  
“I'm just saying think this through. The kid's only been with us a day, and probably won't be much longer, you know?” she said.  
Keith furrowed his brow.  
“No, it's not that I don't trust her, it's just – look, we've gotta be the first friendly faces she's seen in... possibly ever. Of _course_ she's gonna get attached. And I don't want to encourage that too much, you know? We're gonna find her a better life than eating tinned beans and pissing in ditches, and I don't want to make that a hard decision for her.”  
Keith gave her an unimpressed look and showed her the object he was holding.  
Kari sighed. “Fine, yeah, maybe I'm overthinking it. No harm in letting her learn, I guess. Might even work out for her. Alright, you do what you want. But I'm not getting involved, yeah?”

Cassidy ducked back out of the bus, so that no one would know she was eavesdropping. She leaned against its side as casually as she could manage and tried to look surprised when Keith stepped out.  
He gave her a benevolent smile and pressed something into her hands. It was a pipe. It reminded her of the recorders some of the kids in primary school learned to play, but longer and straighter.  
“Try it,” Keith said.  
Cassidy raised the mouthpiece to her lips and blew into it. It made a strangled sound that might, possibly have been a musical note?  
Keith chuckled. “Softer.”  
She blew more softly, and this time a clear note rang out of the pipe, sputtering out into Cassidy's delighted laugh. She was learning music!  
He showed her how to hold her fingers to play a few specific notes. She didn't have any trouble getting these – playing music can't be too hard, she thought.  
“Play them in order,” he said.  
Slowly and steadily, Cassidy started to play a scale. By the third note, she felt a tingle in her fingers, and with the fourth note a warm buzz was radiating up her arms. She knew this feeling; she felt it every time she had transformed. It was magic.  
She found herself automatically playing a seventh note, and she hadn't even learned seven notes yet. Her fingers reached for an eighth, and in a panic she shrieked and dropped the pipe.  
“What was that?” Cassidy asked, shaken. Keith just chuckled.  
Kari spoke up from the door of the bus. “The music wants to be played. If you don't control it, you're putting yourself in danger. Better to drop your instrument than let it take over.”  
She picked up the pipe, looked at it for a moment, then handed it back to her. “Keep practicing until you get the hang of it, yeah? Just the scales – don't try learning any real songs 'til you can control them. But before that... who's up for lunch? Heather's made sandwiches.”

The four of them sat in folding chairs outside, as Heather handed out their lunch.  
“Wow, is that real meat?” Cassidy asked.  
“Um, yes?” Heather said. “It's just ham. Can you get not-real meat?”  
“Sorta? I think they make it from mushrooms or something. You can always tell the difference though.”  
“Mushrooms”, Keith said to himself with a smile as he gazed into the middle distance.  
“Be nice to eat some proper food again,” Kari said. “No offence Heather, you cook good stuff, but a girl can't eat from tins alone, y'know?”  
“None taken,” Heather laughed. “I know what you mean. I hope they have some good food in Thornhill.”  
“Do you not know what's there?” Cassidy asked.  
“Nope,” Kari said, “never been before, I don't think. Maybe some time in the past? But we kinda go all over, so all these little towns blur together.”  
Cassidy felt a spark of excitement in her gut as she ate her sandwich. Going to so many places that you don't even know if you've been to one before... it was such an outlandish idea. A wild dream that these people were living, right in front of her.  
“What about after Thornhill?” Cassidy asked. “What's next?”  
“Well, we'll stay in town for a couple of days, then we'll keep heading east. There's a couple more little towns to visit, then we're aiming to reach the city of Carabad in the mountains before the wet season starts. We'll wait out the worst of the rains there and see what we want to do after that. Carabad's a big place, if we haven't found you a proper home before that I'm sure we can find someone to take you in.”  
Cassidy simply ate.

* * * * *

Cassidy took some time to practice with the pipe while the band set up for their rehearsal. She took care not to get distracted by the feeling of magic now that she knew what to expect, and managed to keep her fingers under control. She played a full scale, eight notes up and back down, and managed to stop at the end. Pleased, she showed Kari, who told her she was doing well but to keep practicing that one scale until controlling the music wasn't any effort. Cassidy was pretty sure she just wanted to avoid teaching her any real magic.

Still, even with this simple practice tune – if you could even call it a tune! - the thrill of harnessing magic was alluring. It reminded her of when she first got her dream back home, and would find any excuse she could get to transform and show off her cool, weird powers. She might not be able to do anything powerful with her pipe yet, but she was determined now to learn. And if playing a scale up and down a hundred times is what she needed to do to prove she could, then that was what she was going to do.

Once the band started practicing their music though, she found it impossible. Not because the noise clashed, exactly, but because the moment she brought the pipe to her lips her fingers tried to play along with the band's tune. As much as she'd been getting the hang of handling her own music, she had no control at all at resisting someone else's. She took a second try, focusing as hard as she could on keeping her hands exactly where they were supposed to be, but she might as well have been trying to push the bus around for all the good it did.

Finally, she gave up, and took a seat to watch the band rehearse. Kari and Heather had plugged their guitars into an amp like before, while Keith this time had set up a proper standing drumkit. Between songs Kari explained to her what each tune they played was for – she'd heard the wards that kept wild animals away, this one was a fertility charm that helped crops grow, that one supported good health and warded off sickness.  
“Can you use the music for fighting?” Cassidy asked, a glint in her eye.  
“Yeah... sometimes,” Kari said, coyly. “We know a few battle songs. Never know when you might get called on to clear out a beast's den or fight off some raiders. Hopefully you're never gonna have to hear them, though. We're not practicing them today.”  
“Aww, why not?” Cassidy asked. “That sounds so cool! What do they do?”  
“Cause we're about to head into town. Those people will want us to give 'em health and fortune. We don't need to be frying anything with lightning.”  
Cassidy grinned at the thought, even if she wasn't going to get to see it just now.  
“Tell you what though, you'll like this next song.” Kari turned to her band. “Bottled Starlight. Ready, guys?”

The song started with a catchy riff on Kari's lead guitar, and Cassidy felt the now-familiar wave of magical energy flow through her. This time, though as the rest of the band joined in and the tune got going, she felt the magic as much in her mind as in her body. It equal parts tickled her and lifted her up; while she stayed sat in her seat, if she closed her eyes she imagined herself floating on a bubble of candy. She found herself smiling, then grinning, then even starting to laugh. Sure the music was good – she could totally have imagined dancing to it in her room in her old life – but this feeling went beyond a good song and into magical joy. She was _happy_ , and here, in this moment, she knew she was in the right place and there was nowhere else she would rather be than here, sitting by the side of the rickety tour bus, watching these three weirdos play music for her.  
By the time the song finished she was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes.  
“It's a cheering song!” Kari said. “Always a crowd-pleaser. One of my own creations. What do you think?”  
Still recovering from the laughter, Cassidy got to her feet. The music might have stopped, but all the joy stuck around. She ran up to Kari and caught her in a tight hug.  
“Thank you,” Cassidy said. “Thank you so much for taking me in!”  
Kari's usually implacable coolness melted into a warm smile as she hugged Cassidy back and ruffled her hair. “No trouble at all,” she said. “I'm happy to have you with us.”


	3. Through the Fire and the Flames

The road on the other side of the river was properly surfaced, rather than the rough track of packed dirt they had followed so far. As the miles passed by, Cassidy noticed a change to the landscape – while the trees clustered along the river were still there, the empty wasteland beyond was starting to look a more tamed, with wire fences portioning out the land and channels crossing between them.  
“Once the rains come, the farms will spring to life,” Heather mused.  
“Wait, farms?” Cassidy asked. “Where?”  
“Laid out before us, yearning for the touch of life.”  
“You mean, just... there in the dirt? Can you do that?”  
“Of course,” Heather said. “What are farms like where you are from?”  
“They're like... big glass towers? Full of water troughs that they grow the plants in.”  
“Guess you can't farm the land if you're stuck in a city,” Kari piped up. “They really thought of everything, huh. Does that work, though? Growing plants just in water?”  
“Works enough for us,” Cassidy pouted. “And it's not just water? It's filled with nutrients or... something. We learned about it in urban studies but I don't really remember.”  
“Right, right, sure,” Kari said. “Oh hey, check it out, you can start to see the town up ahead.”

Shapes were starting to form out of the haze on the horizon. Squat, blocky shapes. They were, if the others were to be believed, buildings – but the proportions seemed off. They were so _small_ , and so spaced out. Nothing was more than two storeys tall, many of them not even that. Some buildings were scattered across the farmland, separated from the others – just off by themselves! Cassidy had never seen buildings that looked lonely before.

As the town drew closer, Cassidy started to make out more weird details. Every building she could see only had one door, and you would be able to walk right around all of them with no trouble. Most of these buildings couldn't fit more than one apartment in them. It was a terrible use of space – but, she figured, space was one thing these people had in abundance.  
The roofs stuck out to her too. Every one of the buildings had similar steep-sloped roofs built out of some sort of heavy-duty tiles. They didn't look at all easy to walk on, and even the low roofs looked hard to get up to if you didn't have some sort of jumping power. And even once you were up there it would be hard to get from roof to roof with all this open space. Did people just not go up there?

Cassidy couldn't help but marvel at the buildings as they drove through the town. What must it be like to live in one? No neighbours on any side, having as many windows as you want without worrying about weak points in the barrier... but it also seemed exposed. The town's layout was very open, with no hidden alleys or nooks to hide away in. Wherever you were, you were in plain view. It was a little bit creepy.

The bus weaved aimlessly through the town's streets until Keith found what he was apparently looking for – a large, open paved area with lines painted on it. He brought the bus to a stop neatly within one of the marked boxes.  
As the four of them disembarked, Cassidy looked around the space in wonder. Were all of these boxes for buses to stop in? Most of them were much smaller. Did buses come in small sizes? Some other kind of vehicle?  
“If you think the car park's impressive you're gonna have a hell of a night,” Kari quipped.  
“So much space... what's it _for_?” Cassidy asked.  
“It's... a car park,” Kari said. “It's where we, y'know, park. The cars.”  
“Cars?”  
Kari sighed. “You'll figure it out. Why don't you go with Heather to find us a place to stay. Keith, you're with me, we'll go find the baron and sort out commission. Meet back here later, okay?”

* * * * *

As she and Heather wandered through the town's high street, Cassidy was struck by how small it was. From what she could see, no two shops sold the same things – a grocer, a butcher, one shop sold clothes, one sold shoes, but no one was really competing. And this was the only shopping district in the town. If you weren't happy with what something sold, then... tough. It was hard to imagine what that must be like to live with.

They came across a tavern by the name of The King's Arms. Cassidy had never been in a place like this before. At her age she wasn't welcome in any of the City's bars – not that she had ever had a reason to go to one. She wondered if they were as homely as this place. It felt warm and friendly, the kind of place you could meet up with your friends after a hard day of work for a refreshing drink. If this was what bars were like, maybe that was why her dad had spent so much time at one.

The man behind the bar was solidly-built, but had a friendly disposition. His tan skin and thick, curly hair matched most of the people Cassidy had seen around the town.  
“Good morning!” Heather greeted cheerfully. “Are travellers welcome at your tavern?”  
“Ah, thought I hadn't seen you before,” the barman responded with equal cheer. “You most certainly are. What brings you to Thornhill?”  
“We're a touring band,” Heather said. “We heard whispers on the wind that you hadn't had anyone come to you in some time. The others are in talks with your baron about it now.”  
“You sure heard right,” the barman said. “We were starting to worry we wouldn't see anyone before the sowing season. Would you happen to be looking for a place to stay? We've got three rooms upstairs, a double and two singles.”  
“Fortuitously, we would,” Heather said sweetly. “And how much would you charge for their use?”  
“Oh, I'll sell 'em for a song,” the barman said. “Literally. Play a gig in here and you can stay for free.”  
“That sounds wonderful!” Heather chimed. “You have a deal.”

* * * * *

Cassidy lay down on her bed. It was harder and lumpier than the beds back home, but it was still a real bed. The room was small, with bare walls and floorboards, but it was a room. Her own room! She could get changed without worrying about anyone looking – which she promptly did, returning to her now-clean gym clothes. She kept tripping over the borrowed dress, and while it was kind of funny with the band it was getting embarrassing with all these other people around.

In theory this was time for her to set up her things, but all the possessions she had were the clothes on her back and her pipe. There was a bathroom down the hall with a toilet and a shower – which were already starting to feel like luxuries – but since she didn't need either she decided to just go back downstairs and see what else was going on.

She found Kari in conversation with the barman.  
“So, alright, if we do a set tonight we've got a few good songs we can play you. We'll start with a classic cheering tune. We've got a couple of songs that do fancy light show stuff. And once the crowd's established we can play something to get them in a mood to buy drinks.”  
“Got anything good to round out the night?” the barman said. “Something to light a little fire under them, if you know what I mean. Sullivan's Soprano, or something along those lines.”  
“We know it, but... we do have a kid with us.” Kari gestured toward Cassidy. “I couldn't in good conscience.”  
The barman looked over. “Fair enough. Shame, though.”  
“Hey!” Cassidy said .”I'm not just a kid! What are you talking about, anyway? I can handle it!”  
They both awkwardly avoided eye contact.  
Kari spoke up. “You, uh... have had the sex talk, right? You know how all that works?”  
“Of course I have!” Cassidy huffed.  
“Oh good. Then, it's a song to help people do that.”  
Cassidy flushed a deep red. “Ew! Okay, yeah! Don't!”  
Kari and the barman laughed. Mortified, Cassidy went to join the others.

“How is your room?” Heather asked.  
“It's nice,” Cassidy said. “Good to have a place to myself.”  
“I'm glad to hear it,” Heather said. “Kari hasn't even seen ours yet.”  
“Oh yeah, you're sharing,” Cassidy said. “Sorry to make you do that.”  
“Don't be, we would have anyway.”  
“Oh... wait, are you a _couple_?”  
Heather laughed softly. “Not exactly. Sometimes it's Keith.”  
“Kari and Keith...?”  
“Oh, no, they're brother and sister. I meant me and Keith.”  
Cassidy didn't get it at all, but she got the feeling this was something she should just let go.  
“Um, thanks for lending me your dress,” Cassidy said, trying to change the subject.  
“No trouble at all,” Heather said. “But I suppose you should have some clothing of your own, yes? Kari did say we should buy you some in town.”  
“Really?” Cassidy said, her eyes gleaming. “Thank you so much!”

Cassidy had never been able to get into clothes shopping the way other girls did. She just couldn't get excited about fashion. In her old life, she'd have dreaded having to buy an entire wardrobe from scratch. But it was an entirely different thing to do so after having to get by without one.  
Thornhill only had one clothes shop, and it was a disorganised mess. It put Cassidy in mind of buying stuff second-hand back in the City, where the racks were stocked with whatever the shop happened to have and if you wanted it in a different size you'd better learn how to sew. But it did make her decisions a lot easier.  
Kari had given her a budget of 30 crowns, out of what the baron was paying them for their concert. Cassidy had no idea if that was a lot of money or not, but it was enough to buy her two decent outfits, so she was pretty happy. Once she was back at the inn she took the chance to change for the third time that day – a denim skirt and jacket over a t-shirt with a design that probably meant something in this world. It wasn't a style she was used to wearing, but it helped her feel like she was starting to fit in.

* * * * *

That evening, Cassidy got to enjoy a real cooked meal. The kind made in a kitchen. The tavern's kitchen, in this case. There was a blackboard listing the meals available that day, and every single one of them included meat. She had never seen that before. Even at Future's Promise, there was usually only one actual meat dish on the menu at most. Somehow, in this world, there was just a lot of meat to go around. Was that something you could do with all this space? How exactly does raising meat animals work anyway? She kind of wished she'd paid more attention in her urban studies classes.

She had sausages and potatoes, with some other vegetables she didn't recognise and wasn't sure she really liked but thought Kari might judge her if she didn't eat them. Those aside, it was genuinely good food. This life she was living might be rough and scrappy, but it was nice to know there were moments like this in it too.

After eating, Kari called her over to talk with the barman. The three of them sat at a small table.  
“So,” he said. “Let me introduce myself. My name's Mat, and I own the King's Arms. Kari here tells me she picked you up in the wilderness, and you need someone to take you in. Well, I thought I'd offer you a place here.”  
Cassidy was silent.  
“We've cleared it with the baron – he's happy to let you move into the town, they'll handle the paperwork. We've got a good school here, and you can catch up on... whatever you might have missed. You can live here above the pub, same as me, you can even have the room you're staying in now if you want. I won't make you work, but if you want to earn your keep I certainly won't say no, and I wouldn't let you work without paying you too. What do you say?”  
Cassidy was still silent.  
“Well, you don't have to decide right now,” Mat said. “Think about it, alright? You're all here a few days, no sense rushing into anything.”  
“We're not gonna make you go anywhere you don't want to,” Kari said. “But this is as sweet a chance as you're gonna get, yeah?”  
“I'll... think about it,” Cassidy said.

She walked out to the stairs, then once she was out of sight ran up to her room, slamming the door behind her.  
Cassidy cried.

* * * * *

With the sun starting to set, the band began setting up in a corner Mat had cleared to act as the stage. As the girls got their amps ready, Keith set up his drumkit, finally giving each drum a tap to check the sound. All in order.  
“Where's Cassidy?” he asked.  
“She went to her room,” Heather said. “I'll go and get her. She won't want to miss this.”  
“I talked the landlord into letting her move in here,” Kari said as Heather scurried away. “Think she's a bit conflicted about it, though. Figured we should give her time.”  
“You should let her stay with us,” Keith said.  
“I'm not gonna kick her out or anything!” Kari said. “If she really wants to, she can, but... look, we've been over this, this isn't a good life for a kid like her. She deserves hot meals and a place to call her own.”  
“Does she think that?”  
“I... dunno. But she's, what, thirteen? You know how kids are. She's not necessarily gonna want what's actually gonna make her happy.”  
“And if she thinks you don't want her?”  
Kari sighed. “Look, I'm doing my best here, okay? If the kid thinks I don't like her then maybe she deserves to live with someone better anyway.”

“Guys!” Heather called, running back into the room. “Cassidy's gone!”  
“Gone?” Kari asked.  
“She isn't in her room.”  
“Did you check the bathroom?”  
“I checked everywhere. Not in there, not our room... she's not upstairs. Did she come back down?”  
Keith shook his head. From where he'd been setting up he could see the whole tavern – if she had come through, he'd have spotted her.  
“Shit,” Kari said. “Shit! She's run off! Must have climbed out the window. Fuck, Keith, you were right, I-”  
Heather put her hand on Kari's shoulder. “We need to get her back,” she said. “It's almost dark.”  
“Shit, if she's gone out of the town... it's been long enough... the old wards don't go that far out...”

Keith tapped the snare with his finger. Frowning, he turned a key on its side, tuning the skin down a little. There were a lot of things he wasn't good at. He couldn't hold a conversation. He couldn't cook for a damn. He was an okay driver – better than his sister, at least – but not really good enough to be proud of it.  
But when it came to drumming, he was a wizard.  
He didn't know Cassidy well enough to have figured out a beat for her, but he could nail down an "Orange" "Outsider". And if that didn't describe her, what did? He picked up his sticks and rattled out a solo he'd created on the spot.  
A few seconds later, he heard an echo to the south, far beyond the walls of the inn.  
“Downriver,” he said. “About half a mile.”  
“She won't be safe out there,” Heather said. “We have to get her back.”  
Kari unplugged her guitar. “I hope we don't need these, but... better strap up. Our girl needs us.”

* * * * *

Cassidy sat between the roots of a tree, watching the river. A scrap of paper floated by, down to wherever the river went. Unwanted trash, just following the flow.

Two days. That was all it had taken. She almost laughed – she had set a new record for herself.  
She'd thought this time would be different. They were grown-ups. They cared for her when they didn't have to. They didn't care about shallow drama, or what people thought of them. And they seemed like they'd liked her. She guessed she thought wrong.  
Cassidy looked down at the pipe in her hand, and threw it to the ground. Pity. That was what it was, wasn't it? They saw a starving girl by the side of the road and just looked after her enough to not feel like bad people. But they didn't _want_ her. They were happy to palm her off as soon as they could.

Who had she been kidding, trying to blame Undine back then? Just cause she was new. Just cause people liked her. Just cause Undine knew how to make friends and Cassidy didn't. Here she was, in a completely different world, with completely different people, but it was all still the same. She couldn't keep blaming everyone else. The problem was her.

Again, she felt the tears well up, and had no reason to stop them.  
“Why?” she asked the river. “What's wrong with me?”  
The river didn't answer.  
She crawled over and tried to see her reflection in the flowing water, but it was too dark. She knew her hair was still orange, but... that didn't _mean_ anything. She wasn't a magical girl here. The one thing she had ever been chosen for, and she couldn't even do that right.  
The river did catch the reflection of the moon. It looked down at her, mocking her. There was another, smaller moon right by it, a dusty red colour.  
Even the moon had more friends than she did.

Cassidy lay down. Maybe she _should_ live at the inn. She didn't want to. On the bus, the world had seemed so big. She had travelled further than she could possibly have imagined. She didn't want to give that up, to live in such a tiny little town. But maybe she'd be better off just letting herself be passed around between people who didn't want her until she was finally old enough for no one to need to care.

Somewhere, she heard the sound of wind chimes.

The wind wasn't blowing. What could be making that noise? Cassidy got up and tried to peer through the trees to see where it was coming from. There was something out there. She crept closer.

Under the moonlight, she saw it. Some kind of animal. It stood on four legs, a little taller than her. It had coarse fur, a thick tail, and a row of bony plates along its spine. It had its snout buried in what might have been something's burrow.

She watched as the plates along its spine knocked together in sequence, making the wind chime sound again. She didn't see what it did, but it pulled out of the burrow with a rabbit between its jaws, which it swallowed down in one bite.

The beast's long, toothy snout turned to face her, and reared up. Cassidy was torn between standing as still as she could or running away. It made the choice for her as its plates crashed together again, and it spat out what looked like grey fire toward her. Instinctively she dodged to the side, and the fireball hit the tree behind her, scorching it to charcoal.

Cassidy bolted back toward the river and tried to hide. What could she do? Could she outrun it? If she tried, could she still dodge its attacks? If she could just transform! She closed her eyes tightly, and tried to visualise it as well as she could. The way the street fades away to that familiar maroon field. The magical ribbon she winds around herself. The scissors she pulls out from it. The music that seems to come from nowhere.  
When she opened her eyes, she found she was looking at something on the ground. Her pipe, catching the moonlight through a gap in the trees. She picked it up.  
_The music that seems to come from nowhere._  
It was crazy. It couldn't work. Could it? If music was magic here...

She could hear the beast scrabbling through the trees, looking for her.

She'd been practicing her scales. She knew the first few notes of that music that she'd always thought of as her theme. She didn't know all of them, but... the music wanted to be played, right? If this would work, then...

Trembling, she brought the pipe to her lips, and found the right fingering. The first note sounded right.  
The beast knew where she was now.  
She played the second note. She felt something tingle in her fingers.  
The third flowed easily.  
By the fourth, she didn't need to think about it.  
As she played, her fingers took positions she didn't even know about, and as scary as that was she didn't stop it. It was _working_.

As the tune swelled, she felt a wave of magic wash over her. The world slipped away.

Cassidy opened her eyes, as she had done hundreds of times before. The wooden pipe was gone – now, she held the twisted handle of her familiar weapon. She stared at the beast bearing down on her.  
Its plates thundered once again. Cassidy split herself, and dodged to both sides.  
Grinning to herself, Flash Cut charged.

The beast struggled to follow both targets. It eventually settled on left, but not until Cassidy had managed to surround it. Once its attention was away, her pale half swung her blade at its hind leg. The creature hissed and swung round with surprising agility, but Cassidy could be fast too – her deep half hacked at its tail as it swung by.  
With a shriek, it flailed wildly, catching her deep half with a sweep of its bleeding tail and wiping her out.

Whole again, Cassidy ran at the beast's head, opening the scissors wide. But it swiped at her with its foreleg and flung her aside, knocking the wind out of her. She rolled onto her back as the beast raised its claws to swipe down at her – she caught its arm between her blades and squeezed. The creature shrieked in pain, but she couldn't bring her scissors to close. This thing was much hardier than monsters usually were.

 _It's flesh and blood_ , Cassidy thought. _Not the weird goop monsters were made out of. What now?_ The beast tried to pull back enough to point its snout at her, but she kept it pinned with her blades as well as she could.

Out of nowhere, a guitar riff screamed across the glade. Lightning crackled in its wake, coursing through the beast and knocking it off her.  
Cassidy got to her feet and caught her breath. She turned to look at the source of the sound.

“Cassidy!” Kari called. It was them! Kari and Heather held their guitars, with what looked like amps worn as backpacks. Keith stood just behind them, with that drum harness he had worn when they played by the road last night. They watched the beast carefully while Keith kept a beat going.  
“Kari!” Cassidy called back. They came back for her. _They came back for her!_

Heather's bass played loudly, and she felt the beat run up her spine, soothing her bruises and invigorating her. She turned to face the beast, which had got to its own feet and was now staring down the band. Its path clear, it started to ring out the peal of its plates again.  
Cassidy didn't think, she just acted. With the reaction speed of a magical girl, she leapt at the creature, swinging her scissors while gripping the blade, crashing the handle up its spine, playing the chimes in reverse. The beast coughed and hacked, grey flame spilling from its mouth like spittle but unable to clear it.  
She jumped back as the band came in, and the beast was trapped in their song. They weaved wind and fire around it, before launching it to the air with a thunderous cadence. Choking, whimpering, and wounded, the beast backed away, then turned and fled into the night.

Cassidy collapsed to the ground, and let her transformation fade. Once again, she clutched a wooden pipe tightly in her hand. She looked at it, then looked over to the band as they ran over, through the tears.  
“You came back,” she said, and fainted.

For a moment, she was dimly aware that she was being carried. Kari really was quite strong, she thought, as she fell back to sleep.

* * * * *

Cassidy woke up in her bed at the inn.  
The morning sun shone through the window, and someone was knocking at her door.  
“Yeah?” Cassidy called out, blearily.  
“Can I come in?” Kari asked from the other side.  
“Yeah, sure,” Cassidy said, sitting up. She was still wearing her clothes from the day before.  
Kari stepped in, and sat on the foot of the bed. “Glad to see you're up,” she said. “How are you feeling? You hurt anywhere?”  
Cassidy patted herself down, feeling for cuts and bruises. “No, I'm good,” she said. “Magical girls heal fast.”  
“So I see!” Kari said. “I'm... still not sure what you did out there. But you're something special alright. Maybe you really did come from another world.”  
“So you believe me then?”  
“Yeah, I guess I do. But, look, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. Cass... I'm sorry. I think I freaked you out with trying to get the guy here to adopt you like that. I didn't mean... I don't want you to think you're not wanted, okay? You're a good girl, I like you. I just want you to have the best life you can, you know? Living on the road isn't easy on a kid as young as you. I thought you deserved a chance at something better.”  
“You didn't ask me, though,” Cassidy said.  
“I didn't. And I should've. You don't have to move in here if you don't want to Wait, no, let me say that different. Cassidy, do you want to stay with us? Keep travelling on the bus with us? It's not an easy life, and if you're gonna be part of the gang you're gonna have to earn your keep, but if this really is what you want, we'd love to have you. Keith and Heather already told me as much.”  
Cassidy's eyes went wide.  
“Really?” Cassidy said. “You mean that?”  
“Cross my heart, I mean every word. You don't have to commit, I'm not gonna say you can't get off the ride somewhere down the line, but as long as you want to stay with us, we want you to stay with us. What do you say?”  
“Yeah! Yes! Please let me join!”  
“Welcome to the crew, then!” Kari said, and ruffled her hair. “Better come down for breakfast, cause it's gonna be a hard morning's work setting up the stage in the square. And keep practicing your pipe, yeah? Gotta learn your music if you want to be part of the band.”  
Cassidy grinned. “You want me in the _band_?”  
“Once you're good enough, sure! Til then, get yourself ready and I'll see you downstairs, alright?”

Once Kari had left, Cassidy looked out of her window. The town looked beautiful in the morning sun, and in the distance she could see the horizon call to her.

With a smile, she put on her shoes, and went to face it.


	4. The Show Must Go On

Cassidy looked out of the hotel window onto the rain-soaked streets.  
It had been raining for the entire time she had been in Carabad city. The wet season caught up with them two days before they got here, and here they stayed to wait out the monsoon.  
As Kari put it, the changing winds were treacherous up in the mountain passes they needed to go through to move on, and while rainy weather would stick around for months in the basin they had just left, they only needed to wait out the worst of it for a couple of weeks here before it was safe to move on.

After leaving Thornhill, they had passed through three more towns before coming here, all of them smaller than that had been. One of them was just a cattle ranch with two households belonging to the family that ran it. That one had been the weirdest, the ranchers had to wrangle all of their livestock to come close enough to hear the stage and get their blessings for health and fertility. It was the biggest concentration of animals Cassidy had ever seen, and cows were way less cute in person than in the picture books she'd had growing up. She tried to avoid making eye contact with them. But she was starting to understand how there was so much meat to go around.

Life on the road was often rough, but she was getting pretty used to it now. Having food cooked on the little stove in the bus or on a campfire outside, taking what chances you could to wash and bathe, sleeping on bunks in the back with the others, it all started to feel homely. She had made her bunk her own space now, and she had amassed more clothes – nowhere near as big a wardrobe as she'd had back in the City, but at least she could wear clean underwear every day again.

Through it all, Cassidy had done her best to learn to play music. She had gone from scales to simple tunes, and from simple tunes to some actual musical spells. Or songs. The words were pretty much interchangeable here. She could play a light, and start a little fire, and soothe a bruise. And she had learned her transformation song for sure now, although Kari was adamant that she should never have a reason to play it.  
And while the band had said they'd make her earn her keep, in the end Cassidy had volunteered to do all the chores she had done. She definitely didn't want them to regret taking her with them. And, she had to admit, it was nice to be thanked for it, and to feel like part of the team. In her old life, even with her _actual_ team, she'd never really gone out of her way to try to be part of things. She'd never realised what she was missing.

Someone knocked on the door.  
“Yeah?” Cassidy called. “You can come in!”  
“Hey Cass,” Kari said as she sat down on the bed, followed by Heather and Keith. “Got something to ask ya.”  
“Oh?” Cassidy asked.  
“So, you've been with us a while on the road, and we've settled in a bit here too. I know back at the start you really wanted to be part of the band and stay on the road, with us, and, well...”  
Cassidy swallowed.  
“You know we're gonna be heading north once the rain start to clear. Through the mountains, out up to the marshes. If you wanted out now, this is probably the best place you're gonna get to settle down. What I – what _we_ – wanna know is... what do you want to do? If you still wanna stick with us, you're gonna be in it for the long haul. What do you say?”  
Cassidy didn't even have to think about it. “Of course I want to go with you! That hasn't changed!”  
Kari smiled. “Good, cause we've got a present for ya.”  
Keith lifted some sort of case, and presented it to her. Cassidy opened it, to reveal a gleaming brass saxophone.  
“You've been doing great with that pipe of yours,” Kari said. “And I reckon it's time you learned to play a real instrument. One you can play on stage with us.”  
Cassidy picked it up reverently. “I... don't know what to say.”  
“Thanks would be a start,” Kari smirked.  
“Yes, thanks! Thank you! I... I won't make you regret this! I'll practice every day!”  
“That's my girl,” Kari said.  
“Learning this will be a little different,” Heather said, “since none of us know how to play a saxophone. So we also brought you a book to help you learn the technique.”  
“It's all yours,” Keith said. Cassidy had learned to interpret the few words he said. He didn't just mean the instrument. This was a role. Something unique that only she could do.

Tears started to well in Cassidy's eyes. “Thank you so much,” she said, and rushed in to hug Kari. Heather and Keith joined in, the whole band – a band _she was now a member of_ – one big ball of arms and affection.  
And with it, a warmth in her heart, of having a place she truly belonged.


End file.
